Mangalore: SAC Researchers Discover New Species of Frog

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (RD/CN)

Mangalore, Dec 16: A new species of frog has been discovered in the Western Ghats by a team of researchers from St Aloysius College headed by Dr S Hareesh Joshy, professor and head of department of zoology.

The research finding is based on morphological, acoustic, and molecular studies which confirm fully the taxonomical position of the species. Dr Joshy has published the findings on the new species in the scientific ‘Journal Alytes’, a specialized international journal on amphibians published by Paris Museum, France.

The new species ‘Euphlyctis mudigere’ is a tiny water frog belonging to the genus/group Euphlyctis. The specific name was derived from the name of the locality which is Mudigere.

It has a body length of 28.1 millimeters (male) to 34.8 millimeters (female). Externally, Euphlyctis closely resembles the related species of E-hexadactylus and E-cyanophlyctis. But it differs from them with regards to the morphometric acoustic and molecular features.

E-mudigere differs from E – hexadactylus in having a distinctly smaller snout-vent length and dark brown bold marking on the dorsal side, a smaller head, shorter hind limbs, and wide eyelids length. A mid-dorsal stripe is absent in E-mudigere which is present in E-hexadactylus. Though the high strips pattern of E-mudigere is similar to that of E-cyanophyctis, the finger and toe length was shorter in E-mudigere than in E-cynophyctis. The dorsal surface of E-cyonophyctis is directly covered with small granular tubercles which are rather very scarce in E-mudigere.

The acoustic feature (breeding calls) in these species show distinct differences. In E-mudigere the acoustic calls are composed of trills that are long in duration having numerous pulses with lower dominant frequency than those of E-cyanophylyctis and E-hexadoctylus.

The molecular data also shows that E-mudigere is distinct taxa. The family tree of this group Euphyetis shows that E-mudigere is a sister group of E-hexadactylus; E-mudigere shows an arrange sequences of divergences with the related species of E-cyanophyctis and E-hexadactylus.

Dr Joshy has been involved in research on biodiversity of frogs of the Western Ghats for the past 18 years and has published 15 scientific papers in national and international journals. He has worked in collaboration with the Japanese scientist Dr Kuramoto, Emeritus professor, Gukuako University, Japan.

There are about 300 species of frogs in India of which one-third are found in the Western Ghats which is considered to be a hot spot of Anuran biodiversity. However, many species of frogs are becoming extinct and efforts need to be made to conserve such species.